Photographer Jonathan Fontaine, honoured by the World Press Photo jury for his series entitled The Nomad’s Final Journey, will be in Montreal to launch the event’s 16th year, to be held at Bonsecours Market from August 30 to October 15.

Jonathan Fontaine takes a sensitive interest in human and environmental conditions. His series entitled The Nomad’s Final Journey won an honourable mention from the World Press Photo jury. The winning image shows 16-year-old Samira observing a refugee camp in Ethiopia. The series completes a photographic project begun in 2016 on the decline of pastoral nomadism, due to droughts induced by climate change in the Horn of Africa.

“The year 2022 shows the longest drought on record in this region, lasting from 2019 to the present day,” explains Jonathan Fontaine. “These recent years show the end of nomadic life and the massive disappearance of livestock, dying of starvation. The consequences of this climate change are manifesting in a food crisis and a social transformation from nomadic to sedentary existence, in climate refugee camps.”